We all know that by adding the suffix (al) makes the word an adjective but ironic is already an adjective so why does the word ironical exist? It appears in Webster’s dictionary under ironic as “also ironical” is this because so many people miss use the word, that Webster just put it in the dictionary to appease the masses? I have gotten in many an argument with friends over this subject and need to know. Is ironical a word? Which of the two, ironic or ironical, was used first? What is officially the correct word to use? And does ironical have any advantages over ironic a.k.a. is there a sentence that would benefit from the use of ironical over ironic?
We looked this up last week 'cause of those !$@!% Chrysler commercials with Celine Dion - every time we here her sing the line “it’s ironical” critterwoman and I both cringe. We thought for sure it was an improper word…unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be.
The Merriam-Webster Collegiate lists it as a variant of “ironic.” It looks to me like an unnecessary word. I can’t think of any use for it where “ironic” wouldn’t serve just as well.
The fact that it’s in the dictionary doesn’t mean the word makes sense, and I agree with David Simmons that it shouldn’t be necessary in any situation. It just means people say it a lot, and I do think Ms. Dion is an idiot for saying “ironical” in that commercial.
Yeah, mathematical is also an unnecessary word because we have mathematic. It’s not a huge flaw in the language.
The way I use it, situations are ironic (M-W sense 1), and people are ironical (M-W sense 2). It seems a useful distiction to me, but I know that it’s one that only exists in my head. I don’t think it’s necessary in any situation; I just like how it sounds.
According to Robert K. Barnhart in his dictionary of etymology the word ironical predates ironic by more than fifty years (1576) and (1630) respectively. Ironic is shortened from ironical. Bryan A. Garner says in his Modern American Usage “Ironic is standard. Ironical is a needless variant that used to be the preferred form; it is still often seen in BrE.” It would appear that ironical is a proper word, if a bit archaic.
Thinking on it, I get the feeling that one aught to be used to mean “pertaining to ‘ironic’” and the other to mean “ironic” but I can’t decide which which probably means I’m wrong.
Comical? - ness(These last four letters brought to you courtesy of SDMB which has a rule that if you can’t say anything in 10 letters or more, you can’t say it at all.)
I am not an etymologist but I have always understood it to be a general rule that -ic = -ical. The latter is not somehow a doubling or compounding of the former. Which one a word ends up with is apparently pretty arbitrary, but most words end up using one form or the other; occasionally, however, a word survives with both. Hence ironic and ironical. The former is to be preferred, since it is the more common form, but I wouldn’t accuse someone of ignorance for using the latter; most likely they are exercising poetic license, albeit rather ineffectively.
